Dharun targets better timing in 400m hurdles

The athlete, who hails from Tirupur in the state, won a silver medal in the recently concluded Asian Games in Indonesia, was speaking at a felicitation function organised by the Tamil Nadu Athletic Association here. “I am looking forward to improving my timings now. Making it to the final at the Olympics in itself would be great. As one keeps bettering his timings, medal chances obviously increase,” Dharun said.

Dharun, who won a silver in men’s 400m hurdles and a silver in men’s 4x400m relay, was felicitated along with Arokia Rajiv, who claimed silver in the men’s 4x400m relay and the mixed team relay. He had clocked a time of 48.96 seconds in Jakarta and hopes to get better with training. He added that he had improved a lot after training with Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan adding they have had mini-battles between themselves in practice. “I have improved a lot after training with him, he has been my partner for the past one year. We used to have mini battles between ourselves even during practice sessions,” he added. 

The local lad remarked players prefer to train in Europe because of the technology available and climate. “Athletes prefer to train in Europe only because of two reasons, technology and climate. We can run a lot more as our recovery time will be less,” he added. Dharun recalled the tough time he had to endure after an injury he suffered and how he managed to train hard subsequently. 

“When you win relatively smaller meets, it serves as a boost as we head into a bigger event like the Asiad. It was very difficult. The pain I suffered motivated to train harder (after the injury). I still can’t believe that I was able to cross the finish line with that timing. I was expecting to finish around 49.1 or 49.2 seconds. But, I don’t know how I made it quicker,” he added.